Bees dying, neighborhood ignorance, steam coming from my ears

[luvin honey]

Wow--long title!

My bees appear to have gotten into pesticide. I made this comment on FB, and my SIL from across the valley said "At least they can't come over here now!"

They live about 3/4 mile away, definitely not getting "bothered" by the bees, and their family is rarely outside. I asked if she didn't want them pollinating their wild berries? She commented that she doesn't want her boys getting stung.

Why am I so ticked? I really should expect this kind of attitude, but it really ticked me off. I have 3 incredible hives for the FIRST TIME overwintered! Awesome spring, they're building up fast, and the berries are getting ready to bloom.

Now I find them weak and dying beneath the hives, full of pollen and everything. People are spraying around here, my bees were out of water, desperately searching for it around my greenhouse plants when I got home, and now I'm wondering if they got into chemical droplets instead...

I'm really bummed.

[AliciaH]

 :imsorry:

[FRAMEshift]

Nothing bothers me as much as needless pesticide death.  We lost one hive last fall from pesticide. They died over a period of a week.  The queen and nurse bees were fine but the foragers all ended up in a big pile.

The only suggestion I can make is that you remove dead bees inside the hive, close the hive up immediately, and after 3 days(when they have forgotten the location of the pesticide) open the hive and have a bucket of sugar syrup nearby so they don't forage at a distance.  Give them water inside the hive so they can survive for 3 days.

I'm very sorry you have had this happen to you.  I know how you feel.

[Kathyp]

wonder what they would be spraying so early?  i know it sucks.  i am lucky here because of the berry fields.  people are pretty educated about spraying, except for the city transplants.  they are the worst!

[FRAMEshift]

wonder what they would be spraying so early? 

The hive we lost was in an outlying suburban area.  We suspect some homeowner in the area put out ant bait.  Most of the city folks in Chapel Hill are averse to using pesticides, and most of the farming is small scale market gardening for the farmers' market.  I guess that's why we have only lost one hive.

[JackM]

Shame

[luvin honey]

I live in Wisconsin ag land. DH was spraying Round-Up yesterday across the bluff from our hives. He thinks other people may be spraying their wheat or alfalfa for various issues. I doubt people use much in their enormous rural lawns, though.

Does this sound like poisoning? Disoriented, weak, hanging out on the ground below hives (loaded with pollen)? I'm just sick. Finally, finally a perfect spring buildup, surviving hives and incredible weather, and now this.

I want to be sure before I close up the hives. It seems to be 2 out of 3, and when I've watched the bees shoot out of their hives in the past, they do seem to be heading in different directions by hive... So maybe one missed the poison?

So--Is this poison, most likely?
Would most agree on shutting the hives up for a few days?
What are the risks of shutting the hives up? What about heat?
Would syrup water inside the hive be enough for water and food?

I'm so annoyed with people who are wilfully ignorant of the value of bees. I sent my SIL a message asking if she or her family had actually been bothered or stung by honeybees. I'd like to ask her to stop eating pollinated foods for life until she stops dissing bees, but I'm just crabby right now  :-\

[forrestcav]

don't you just love family?  :roll: what is you day time temp up there? Are you using solid or screened bottom boards? you might be able to close them in with some screen wire for a few days.
I hate to hear about your bees, I would be heartbroke for this to happen to my girls.

[luvin honey]

I have solid bottoms. I could screen them in with screened tape, but why? I'd assume the chemicals are totally dry by now, unless they're re-liquefying with the morning dew...

Does this sound like poisoning?

(out to check on the girls as soon as it's warm enough for them to be up and moving)

[Kathyp]

they might have gotten into a dust?

if you ever get a clue, let us know.  i can understand using herbicides at this time of the year, but i can't' think what pesticides you'd be using.  of course, you are in a different place with different crops...

what about mosquito control? it is the time of year for that to start.

[luvin honey]

So, kathyp, I've been wondering about that--can bees die from herbicides? Obviously pesticides are geared for insects, but could other chemicals hurt the bees?

I don't know what would be getting sprayed. DH was doing Round-Up. The alfalfa around here is dying due to huge growth and 20s at night, so I doubt anyone is investing in spraying that (DH just told me about it dying this morning, otherwise that was my first suspicion).

I haven't heard about any overhead spraying for anything. We never get it for mosquitos, sometimes for tent moth caterpillars, but that's just a benign powder.

Is there any other cause for this kind of bee behavior?


.... ok--just went to the hives--a few white brood bodies were being hauled out.

[AliciaH]

Sorry, I'm jumping in late here and have been off for a while in general.  You might have covered this in another thread...

You've ruled out sickness?  Dazed and crawling can be an early stage of Nosema.  At least, that's the way it worked with one of my hives about this time last year.  I took a sample and sent it off for testing, two days later the dysentery started.

[FRAMEshift]

When we have to close up a hive, we pour some water into drawn comb.  And make sure they have some honey or syrup inside too.

Sounds like you're having a cool period so if you shade your hives and use screen on the entrance, they probably won't overheat.  We have screened bottoms so it hasn't been an issue.

If it's an insecticide, the bees tend to go off by themselves to die.  In our one case, they went around a follower board (we have long hives) into an area they treat as "outside".  They piled up in a big heap away from the hive comb.  They may exhibit neurological signs like twitching.  But without knowing what the chemical might be, it's impossible to say.

[sterling]

I also wonder about the affect herbicides have on bees. My neighbor was spraying his fields two days ago with a tractor pull sprayer with in 200 yds of some of my hives. Never said a word to me. And the State sprayed the Interstate ROW within 25 yds of some of my hives last week. If bees work blooms with herbicides on them take it back to the hive won't it get into the honey we eat?  All this poisin and then people wonder why cancer is so common.

[sterling]

A thing about the ignorance part. A lady called me last monday and ask how she could get rid of the bees flying around her tree. Then told me that a bunch of bees had built a house in her darling little tree. So to save the tree she put a trash bag around the bees and sprayed ant poision in the bag. The bees that she didn't kill were flying around the bag. She also texted a picture of the swarm. Big swarm. All were dead when I got there. Sad.

[luvin honey]

I'd love to see a massive public relations education campaign on what bees do for humans (beyond honey). Even if they did nothing for us, it's irritating that people's first response is to kill things, or assume they're under attack by insects.

And, seriously, unless you're allergic to bees, a sting here and there is just not that big of a deal! I want to tell them to toughen up a little bit and get a teeny tiny bit of pain tolerance!

Sterling--that's really too bad :(

I don't think anything would have been sprayed that was blooming--I more wonder about them picking up what they thought were water droplets. And now I'm worried about nosema based on AliciaH's post below...

[AliciaH]

Oh, gosh, I didn't want to panic you, that was just an observation from my hive last year, and just one more possible possibility.  I won't downplay the use of pesticides and herbicides, either.  Nasty stuff all the way around and this time of year, we have farmers in our area, too, that roundup everything 30 days prior to planting.

[Kathyp]

educating the public is up to us.  when we teach, they teach others.  of course, it can backfire  :-D 

after i talked to the church gardener about spraying when the blackberries were in bloom, he went to the other extreme and let the tansy go wild!  one of the neighbors finally took a tractor over and mowed it for them.  i was just about to do the same!

[luvin honey]

Oh, gosh, I didn't want to panic you, that was just an observation from my hive last year, and just one more possible possibility.  I won't downplay the use of pesticides and herbicides, either.  Nasty stuff all the way around and this time of year, we have farmers in our area, too, that roundup everything 30 days prior to planting.

No panic--all information is good and useful! Rather than glaring at my DH (conventional farmer, Round-Up extraordinaire) over supper tonight I'll consider other possibilities :)

So, today the bees are still going nuts on my nursery plants! What's up? They're planted in composted cow poo and covered in perlite.

:D at kathyp. Egad. We all (humanity) have conflicting wants and needs, don't we?

[BrentX]

How about an update?  How are the bees doing.  It is sad the bees may have pulled in poison, but maybe they have had a chance to recover?